Like Morning Sunshine
by fizban hat
Summary: AU Lily Evans’ teachers want her and every other student to be able to protect themselves when they aren’t at Hogwarts, especially in dark times like these. So they added a few military elements to the curriculum.
1. To Hogwarts My Dear Lads and Lasses

**.-"‾‾':** Like Morning Sunshine **:****'‾‾"-.**

By Fizban Hat

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters or locales. The plot belongs to me. Yippee. As well as any characters or things you don't recognise unless otherwise stated._

**_Summary:_**_ AU, a few things were changed. What if Hogwarts had a military slant? Lily Evans' teachers want her and every other student to be able to protect themselves when they aren't at Hogwarts, especially in dark times like these. So they added a few military elements to the curriculum. After all what good is a dead wizard?_

**_Just a few notes:_**_ First off the title is based on something I said. My sister had asked me to describe my kitten, who is rather affectionate, especially when I'm sleeping and she thinks I should be petting her. I'm a night owl, so the morning isn't my favourite time of day, so here is what I described my kitten as. "She's like morning sunshine: irritating but still there." In this fiction it applies to James, from Lily obviously. I'm a rather military minded person and the situation in the magical world in this timeframe is conductive of an alternate universe fiction. Hogwarts will still be a school to learn magic at, just with a military angle as well as some classes I added, like fitness and such. The military slant was added because of the rise of Voldemort and what not. I'm going to keep all the characters like Dumbledore as much the same as I can, but there will some minute changes. If I get any details wrong, please feel free to correct me. _

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**.-"‾‾':** Chapter One: To Hogwarts My Dear Lads and Lasses **:****'‾‾"-.**

Lily Evans felt that she surely must be crazy, going to a magical secondary school, one which had recently added some military aspects to its curriculum. She had never in her life been interested in the military but she had been fascinated with magic, or rather the idea of it, which was what, had led her to accept the letter to Hogwarts. Lily was almost sure that she could handle the military aspect of it but she wasn't sure she wanted to. Lily sighed as she looked about the train station once more. She stood between platforms nine and ten at the King's Cross station. Lily had absolutely no idea to get onto Platform 9 ¾ let alone how to find the Hogwarts Express. She looked about curiously for another person with a trolley, one that also had a caged owl on it.

To her right she saw another girl, who looked to be the same age as her, striding purposefully towards her. She too had an owl on her trolley. The girl was tall for her age and lithe, with a mass of black hair thrown casually into a braid. She appeared to be wearing a military uniform of some kind, and had the air of a soldier, young as she was. Walking slightly behind her were an older man and woman in military uniforms. Lily assumed they were her parents.

"Excuse me, but do you know how to get onto the platform? You are going to Hogwarts aren't you?" Lily asked, stepping in front of the other young girl, who was quite a bit taller than her. The young girl turned her intense gaze on Lily before answering. Lily did her best not to shy away.

"Yes, my grandmother attended Hogwarts. Come, we will go together." The young girl said. "I am Jania Kalten. You are?"

"Lily, Lily Evans. Nice to meet you." Lily said, shaking Jania's outstretched hand.

"Jania, you will behave at your school." The man said brusquely. Jania nodded.

"Don't forget to write." Her mother added. Jania nodded once again. Then without any further words, they turned on heel and marched away from Lily and Jania.

"Oh, Lily there you are. Have you found the platform?" Lily's mum, Rose Evans asked.

"Yes, mum, Jania knows how to get to it." Lily said.

"Oh, lovely to meet you Jania," Mrs. Evans said delightedly, hugging the other girl, whose eyes widened, "Now Lily, I'm so sorry but we have got to go or we'll be late for meeting Petunia. You know how she gets."

"Don't worry mum. I'll be fine. You go on now." Lily said. Smiling and waving at her parents as they walked towards the exit.

"Come on, all we need to do is run through that wall." Jania said, in a sombre tone.

"How can you be so serious about it?" Lily asked incredulously, biting back her laughter, "You just said we need to run through a wall, like you were discussing the weather!"

Jania raised an eyebrow, "You mean to say, that running through a wall, and the weather, aren't on the same level?"

Both girls giggled about that as they ran through the barrier. For a moment they both stood in awe, before Jania moved off at a brisk pace, forcing Lily to quickly follow, Jania was the only person she anywhere close to knew. Lily shoved her red hair out her face as Jania proficiently loaded their trunks. The two girls then entered the train and searched for an empty compartment, they finally found one near the rear of the train and settled in. Jania turned her intense gaze once again to Lily, studying her.

Lily, she decided, was not what one would consider soldier material. She was petite and delicate looking, but Jania surmised that it was nothing more than appearance, underneath it she was or could be tough as nails. Lily's red hair indicated a temper to her. She also had starling green eyes, which were too unusual Jania judged for reconnaissance.

Lily for her part tried very hard not to squirm, under the scrutiny, a feat she was proud to have accomplished. "So are your parents always like that?" Lily asked curiously.

"Like what?" Was the abrupt reply.

"Uhm… abrupt." Lily said.

"Yes." Jania said grinning and stretching out on her side of the compartment. "They can be so tiresome and distant, but I love them just the same. Is your mother always so… happy?"

"Yeah, my mum's always like that." Lily laughed, as four boys careened into their compartment. Lily jumped slightly startled, while Jania just raised an eyebrow.

"Err… Sorry to disturb you ladies, but we uh… need a place to sit." One of them said.

"I'm sure there are other compartments." Jania said coolly.

"Not that aren't full." Another boy stated.

"We'd be happy to share our compartment." Lily said smiling; her mother had always taught her to be polite.

"We would?" Jania questioned.

"Certainly." Lily said to Jania before turning to the boys, "I'm Lily Evans, and that's Jania Kalten."

"Pleasure to meet you ladies;" Jania snorted at that, "I'm Sirius Black, that's James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." Sirius said introducing them.

Lily studied them covertly as they settled into the compartment. Sirius was the best looking of the four, with longish dark hair and deep eyes, he looked like a romantic rogue, Lily decided. James had the messiest dark hair she had seen and hazel eyes which were almost hidden by his tasteful glasses, he like Sirius was tall and lanky.  Remus was tall but he wasn't quite as lanky as the other two, and was entirely too pale in Lily's opinion, he looked sickly. His hair was a darkish brown which only stole colour from his face and his eyes were a stormy grey, which looked distinctly wary. Peter, where the others were dark and night like, he was like the day, with pale blue eyes, and rich blonde hair. Jania, Lily thought, would probably consider his chin weak though, and not trust him because of it.

_Why was everyone but her, tall?_

"So what house do you two want to be in?" James asked suddenly breaking Lily's thoughts.

"House?" She asked.

"Oh, you're Muggleborn aren't you?" He said, "Not that it matters, well some people think it does but not us. Anyway, there are four houses and they put you in one, to take your classes in, you know to sort of be your second family. There's Ravenclaw, known for its smarts, Hufflepuff, known for its… loyalty, Slytherin known for its ev-ambitiousness, and Gryffindor, known for its bravery and nobleness." James explained speaking a mile a minute. "We all want to be in Gryffindor but you never know…"

"I don't think I really mind which house I'm sorted into, I don't think I'm actually any of those things." Lily said. "What about you Jania?"

"My grandmother was a Ravenclaw." She stated. "I'll be in whatever house I'll be in; choosing one only means I'll probably be disappointed."

Lily watched as Jania returned to looking out the window into the rain that had begun to pour. She was sulking, Lily wondered why. It didn't seem to be in character.

"You didn't want to go to Hogwarts." She stated with sudden insight, the boys all turned to look incredulously at Jania.

"Not particularly. I was accepted at the finest 'muggle' military school, but then I got the letter and my grandparents insisted I go. My grandmother is not the sort you disagree with, so my parents packed me off. I'd prefer a gun, to the stick I got at Diagon Alley." Jania said, after a moment's consideration.

"You've trained to be a soldier before this?" Remus asked curiously. "But you're only eleven."

"So?"

"Her parents are both in the military." Lily said, thinking back to an hour ago, "You're grandparents too, right?"

Jania nodded. "It's the only thing I've been trained for so far, the only thing I've considered. The only thing I've been allowed to think about. Why did you come, Lily?"

Lily smiled sardonically. "I certainly didn't come because I wanted to be in a military.  You don't think there will be a lot of military stuff, do you? The letter said they'd only recently added elements of the military to the curriculum. I came to learn magic. It's so fascinating, even though I know next to nothing about it."

"You'll learn. And I wouldn't worry about the military stuff; it'll probably just be some basic stuff." Sirius grinned, holding up a deck of cards, or that's what they looked like anyway. "Anyone for Exploding Snap?"

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"First Years this way!" A huge man shouted. "First Years to the boats!"

Lily grabbed Jania's hand and headed in the direction the man pointed, after being assured by an older student that their luggage would be taken care of. They were soon joined by two other young girls. One with heavy lidded eyes and a sensuous mouth and the other looked like a cold, heartless beauty. Lily did not care for the look they sent in her and Jania's direction. It was one that spoke more loudly than words that they considered the two of them beneath them, and would not have deigned to even sit with them had another boat been free. Jania apparently didn't care for the look either, as she growled deep in her throat at the other girls, locking eyes with each until they looked away. Lily wondered if Jania knew how intimating she was. Probably.

The air was filled with a dangerous tension, as they drifted silently across the lake, the silence broken only by intermittent growls from Jania. Lily did her best to ignore the hateful, disdainful looks the two girls were giving them, not understanding what they had done to deserve them. Once they reached the dock, well Lily supposed it was a dock, the other two girls scrambled off the boat as quickly as dignity would allow. Jania jumped out of the boat in a fluid motion turning to give Lily a stabilizing hand.

"I forgot to warn you about them." Sirius said, as the four boys joined them. "They're my cousins. They… err…" Sirius broke off clearly reluctant to speak ill of his family.

"They believe that muggleborns like yourselves shouldn't be allowed to attend Hogwarts or any other magical school for that matter." James explained.

"Oh," Was all Lily could think to say to that.

A dark haired witch of undeterminable age led them into a rather large room, before leaving them with instruction which, Lily was quite sure no one heard. As soon as the witch left everyone started to murmur excitedly. Before long the witch came and led them into the Great Hall. Lily gasped as she looked about at it, it was enormous, and the ceiling was spectacular, it looked so real. Much more astounding than any painting she had seen or heard about. She turned her attention back to head of the room as sturdy four legged stool was brought forth and a ratty old hat placed on it. Lily frowned perplexed. She was absolutely startled when it began to sing, explaining how they would be sorted and what the houses were and their values.

"Adien, Jean."

Lily watched as the young woman walked hesitantly up the stool where she was instructed to put on the ratty hat, after a few moments, it shouted out 'Hufflepuff'. After a few more people were sorted before 'Black, Bellatrix' was called, it was the heavy lidded young woman, Lily's intake of breath was a hiss as she waited for her to be sorted. She sighed relieved as Bellatrix was sorted into Slytherin, along with Narcissa, the heartless beauty, who was sorted directly after her. Lily fervently hoped she was not sorted into Slytherin.

"Black, Sirius."

The Sorting Hat seemed quite perplexed by Sirius and took a long moment to sort him, finally though he was sorted into Gryffindor. Lily grinned, happy that Sirius had gotten what he wanted. It seemed only a moment when Lily herself was called up to be sorted, she gingerly stepped up the stool and put the hat on.

_"Lily, where to put you?"_ A voice sounded in her head, it took her a moment to realise that the hat was talking to her, _"Definitely not Slytherin, they would tear you to pieces. You would be smothered in Hufflepuff; they care for the simpler things in life. Ravenclaw would suit you, but you appear to be too headstrong for that house. Gryffindor is the only house, suited to your gifts. Yes, yes, it is GRYFFINDOR!"_

Lily almost jumped as the hat shouted the last part; it was quite startling after having to concentrate to hear the words before it. Lily made her way to the Gryffindor table and sat down beside Sirius after he had hugged her quite suddenly. Lily watched the Sorting and a few minutes later Jania was called to be sorted. Lily almost giggled as Jania funeral marched towards the Sorting Hat, if only she knew how ridiculous she looked. The hat had been on her for only a moment when it shouted out 'Gryffindor'. Lily clapped as Jania made her way to the table.

"It said 'There's a fine line between bravery and foolishness.'" Jania muttered darkly as she sat down, after Sirius had impulsively hugged her as well, much to her discomfort.

Remus was sorted soon after, and he too became a Gryffindor. After a while Peter was called to be sorted, the Sorting Hat took a long time to sort him before finally calling out Gryffindor. James was called almost directly after Peter and the hat barely touched his head before it shouted Gryffindor. Lily smiled, they were all together. Once the Sorting was finished, the Headmaster stood and made a few announcements before waving his hand as the opening feast began.

Lily piled her plate with food as her stomach rumbled conspicuously. All too soon it seemed they were led to their dormitories by Prefects. Lily drug herself up the stairs after Jania. Lily entered their first year dormitory, a bit hesitantly, expecting to find it Spartan, it wasn't, thankfully. The beds were canopied and had soft mattresses. The floor was covered in a thick carpet, and the windows, thankfully had thick drapes on them. This was a castle after all and keeping out the cold in the winter would be important. Lily flopped gracelessly into the bed which her trunk was in front of.

"What do you think, Jania?" Lily asked curiously.

Jania snorted in disgust before turning to the door as two other young girls walked in. "And who are you?"

"I'm Dawn Star, and this Marré Mendambar." One of the girls said cheerfully.

"Your mother was a humorous woman." Jania deadpanned.

"She thought she was too." The blond haired young woman said cheekily. "Marré here was more fortunate with her name."

"May-ree, is more fortunate?" Jania asked, "I can think of several ways to mangle that already."

"Jania, have you ever tried to get along with people?" Lily asked smiling slightly.

Jania grinned, "This is getting along with people."

Dawn threw a pillow at Jania's head, "So, who were those hot guys you were sitting with."

"If they were hot, why didn't they take off their cloaks, or shirts?" Jania asked seriously. The other girls giggled at her, she just glared at them.

"Oh them, that was Sirius Potter, James Black, Remus Pettigrew, and Peter Lupin." Lily said, mixing up the names.

"Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew." Jania corrected, still glaring.

"So, how early do you suppose we'll have to get up?" Marré asked, after they finished 'reviewing' the guys, something Jania had taken no part in.

"Early, so I suggest you four get to bed now." The severe looking witch from earlier said from behind them. Lily jumped startled, not realising she had come into the room. "But first there are a few things we have to go over. One, I am Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, if you have any questions, or concerns; you come to me with them. Two, you are to put your studies before any 'infatuations' you may suffer from, not excluding boys and Quidditch. Th-"

"But Professor, girls don't like Quidditch as a rule." Dawn pointed out, earning a severe look from McGonagall for interrupting, and perhaps for implying that Quidditch wasn't for women.

"Everybody likes Quidditch." The Professor said in a voice which broke no argument. "As I was saying, three, there will always be a store of feminine hygiene products in the dorm lavatory, not that any of you need to use them yet, any other concerns or items you may need will have to be acquired through Madame Pomfrey." McGonagall paused here, "Yes, I think that's all we need to go over." She said after a moment, "Oh, you will get your class schedules tomorrow at breakfast. I suggest you eat up, lunch is quite late, and dinner later. Skipping meals serves no good. Trust me when I say we will work you hard enough that you won't gain weight if you eat hearty meals."

"Rather brisk isn't she?" Lily said after Professor McGonagall had left. The other girls agreed with her as they unpacked their trunks before getting ready for bed.

"It could have been worse," Marré pointed out, "She could have been the grandmother type and mothered us, while giving us sex-ed again."

Jania groaned as she flopped onto her bed, "That would be horrid."

"Good night." Dawn said as she pulled her bed curtains shut.

"Night." Lily called to the other girls as she followed suit.

"Night." Marré called as well. Jania snored; she'd already fallen asleep in her day clothes, half on half off her bed.   

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**.-"‾‾':** END OF CHAPTER ONE **:****'‾‾"-.**

**_Post Script:_**_ This came to me a while ago and I developed it to this when I was supposed to be doing school work and working on the third chapter of my other story. Oh and I just now realised, that Narcissa and Bellatrix couldn't possibly have been in the same year, as they are most likely not twins. So to explain this I'm going to say this; Narcissa and Bellatrix are ten months apart, born in the same year, one in the beginning of January and the other in late September, making it possible for them to be in same year. Narcissa is the elder. Err… Sorry about that. I'm just to lazy to edit it now… ;; _

**_IMPORTANT:_**_ Well, not really but… If anyone knows how to centre the chapter title and what not, could you please tell me? FF.net keeps stripping the center tag.  I use MS Word XP and save it as a web page. It just doesn't work. Any help or tips on putting in the tags manually or a way to save it so it retains it's formatting would be really helpful. You can e-mail me at fizbanhatyahoo.ca_


	2. First Impressions Matter

**.-"‾‾': **Like Morning Sunshine **:****'‾‾"-.**

By Fizban Hat

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters and locales. They belong to Ms. Rowling. I do own the plot, and any characters or things you don't recognise. _

**_Summary:_**_ AU, a few things were changed. What if Hogwarts had a military slant? Lily Evans' teachers want her and every other student to be able to protect themselves when they aren't at Hogwarts, especially in dark times like these. So they added a few military elements to_ _the curriculum. After all what good is a dead wizard?_

**_Just a few notes: _**_I'm not really sure about class schedules and what not, so just work with me.__ Oh, and I've decided to have this story follow the regular years instead, because of an idea I want to work in. If they seem a little mature for their age, err… sorry, I'm a pretty serious person, and I acted that way at age eleven but, I'll try to get them to lighten up. try And serious and formal-like is my err… style of writing, I suppose. _

**.-"‾‾': **Chapter Two: First Impressions Matter **:****'‾‾"-.**

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

THUNK!

Lily awoke with a start, sitting up so suddenly she was almost sure she had given herself whiplash. It took a moment to remember where she was and why she wasn't in her comfortable room at home. She quickly looked about the room, for the source of the noise. On the floor beside her Jania got up rubbing her head. Sighing Lily looked out the window, and saw the grey light of predawn streaking across the sky. There wasn't much point in going back to bed. Lily got up and grabbed her shower things and followed after Jania into the lavatory. Entering a shower cubicle she turned it on, and stood for a minute zoned out under the hot spray.

"Ouch!" Jania yelled from the next cubicle.

"Drop your soap on your toe?" Lily asked yawning.

"No, the water's too hot!" Jania said crossly, turning the hot water tap to low.

Lily showered quickly, when she got out Dawn and Marré were up and getting ready. Lily quickly brushed her hair before throwing it up into a bun. Once all of them were ready they headed out. As they were going down the stairs into the common room, Jania tripped and 'flew' the rest of the way down. Lily covered her mouth to stifle her laughter; Jania had fallen right at Sirius' feet.

"I see you're falling for me already." Sirius grinned as he helped Jania to her feet.

Jania blushed slightly as the others laughed. "I couldn't but help to fall for your charms." She deadpanned.

"Don't fret about it. Everyone falls for me eventually." Sirius said in a mock haughty voice, "Some sooner than others that's all." He finished as he swung his arm about her shoulders. "You ladies will accompany us to the Great Hall?"

"Only because we'll get there faster with you sniffing your way to the food." Jania growled as she threw Sirius' arm off her shoulders.

Lily laughed once again as Jania, in her rush to get away from Sirius, tripped just before the tunnel to leave the common room and ended up falling out. All the way to the Great Hall, which the found without mishap, thanks to Sirius, Lily could hear Jania muttering under her breath beside her. Inside the hall, Lily was once again astounded by the charmed ceiling. She sat down at the Gryffindor table with her friends and helped herself to some breakfast. She pointedly avoided glancing in Sirius' direction and he shovelled food into his mouth, at an unhealthy rate without the slightest bit of decorum. Occasionally he would choke on his food and James would reach over and pound him on the back.  Lily had the feeling that it would become a habit. She smiled slightly as the image of Sirius and James as old men doing the same thing ran through her head.

"Hogwarts to Lily! Hogwarts to Lily!" Marré said, waving a piece of parchment in front of her face. Lily blinked slowly, as she registered that she was still at the breakfast table.

"Oh thanks, Marré." Lily said taking the parchment. "We have transfiguration first."

"So, you are still alive, you pretty zoned out." Dawn said grinning. "What were you daydreaming about? Or should I say who?"

"She was daydreaming about yours truly." James announced arrogantly.

"No, she was daydreaming 'bout me!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"No, me."

"Me."

"No, me."

"Me."

"No, me."

"Me."

"No, me."

"Me."

"No, me."

"Me."

Sirius and James argued childishly. Each punctuating their 'statements' by jabbing their thumb into their chest. Lily groaned as she felt a headache come on.

"Shut it! It was both of you! I was daydreaming of both of you!" Lily exclaimed a muscle in her temple twitching. James and Sirius turned to look at her, surprise written on their features.

"You were?" James asked, hesitantly.

"Oh, I get it. You wanted the two handsomest blokes in the world. Didn't want to settle for just one, eh?" Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"No. No. No. It wasn't like that." Lily said horrified, as she realised what she had said.

"You can argue about who did what and why later." Remus said, speaking up for the first time that morning. "We have to get to class."

"But I'm not done eating." Peter whined.

"Grab a muffin and come on. We have to find the class first." Remus said, walking towards the exit.

Lily and the others got up and followed him. They went up a couple flights of stairs, around corners and down halls. And fifteen minutes later they still hadn't found the transfiguration classroom.

"Kalten, tie your damn shoes!" James snapped as Jania tripped once again as they were going up a set of stairs.

"I don't know how." Jania muttered, stuffing her shoelaces into her combat boots as the others waited.

"Oh my god." Dawn groaned. "The staircase is moving."

"They do tend to do that." Sirius chirped.

"But why do they have to do it _now!?" _Dawn shouted, "When we're on our way to class, the one that just happens to be the hardest, with the strictest teacher, who just happens to be our head of house!"

"Well, maybe since she's our head of house, she'll cut us a break." Lily said optimistically.

"Did she look like the type of person to cut people _slack_ last night?" Remus asked pointedly.

"No, she looked more like the type to feed rule breakers to dragons." James said cheerfully as they got off the staircase.

The group walked around for a few more minutes still not finding the transfiguration classroom. Sirius threw up his hands in frustration and stalked over to a laughing painting. "Tell me where the classroom is or else!" He threatened it.

"Mr. Black is there a reason you are threatening the school paintings?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply from behind them.

"No, no reason at all." Sirius said grinning, "Just wanted to keep in practise that's all."

"Well, I suggest you get into the classroom now." She said pointedly, gesturing to the doorway she was standing in, "You are all twenty minutes late."

"Better twenty than thirty." James said cheerfully as he sauntered into the class. The eight of them having to take seats in the back.

"Now, that we've all arrived." Professor McGonagall said shooting a stern look in their direction, causing Lily to sink in her seat, "Let us begin. Transfiguration is one the hardest and most demanding classes studied at Hogwarts. It will require nothing less than your full attention, if you wish to succeed. And, as you all wish to succeed; there will be no misbehaving, daydreaming, note passing, or gossiping in my classroom. Am I clear?"

The class murmured their assent, not particularly liking where this was going. Lily kept her mind solely on the lesson, trying to keep everything straight in her head as she wrote down the complicated notes Professor McGonagall gave them, beside her Jania was doing the same, with less conviction, as was Remus, but James didn't appear to paying any attention at all, chewing on his quill and talking quietly to Sirius, who had leaned back so his chair was balanced on two legs.

"Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall barked, "would you care to repeat what I just said?"

James leaned lazily back in his chair, emulating Sirius, with an easy grin, and repeated in verbatim what the Professor had just said a few minutes ago. Lily was agog, staring at him until he winked at her cheekily. She felt her cheeks go red as she returned her attention to McGonagall. A few minutes later, the Professor set them to the practical part of their lesson. They were to turn matchsticks into needles.

"I don't see the point of this." Jania commented as she and Lily got their matchsticks. "When are you ever going to need to turn a matchstick into a needle?"

"Well, perhaps you need to mend something, and you find you have no needles." The soft spoken Marré said.

"That's what they have shops for." Jania pointed out, waving her wand ineffectively at her matchstick.

"Well, they could be closed." Lily pointed out, waving her wand at the matchstick to no avail.

"What could you possible need mended so badly that it couldn't wait for till when the shops were next open?" Jania asked.

"Well, if you were getting ready for your wedding and your gown had a tear in it and you didn't have time to go to a shop to buy some needles, it would come in handy." Dawn answered thoughtfully.

"And how often does that occur?" Jania asked stubbornly.

"More often than you think." Lily said, "At weddings everything that can go wrong, usually does, or at least it seems that way."

"Why couldn't you just get married in the torn gown?" Jania said, asking yet another question.

The three girls gave her a frosty look. "You just don't." Lily said.

"I would." Jania announced pugnaciously, "And you still haven't answered my question. Why exactly do we need to know how to turn matchsticks into needles?"

"Because Professor McGonagall said we had to." Remus said from the table beside them.

"That's not a proper answer." Jania began.

"Just drop it!" Lily exclaimed frustrated, as yet again she hadn't managed to turn her matchstick into a needle. "We have to do it, does it matter why?"

"It does to me." Jania grumbled.

By the end of the lesson only, Sirius had been able to turn his matchstick into a needle (Winning Gryffindor ten points), although James had come close. His match had turned into a needle, just not a silver needle, but rather a wooden one. The rest had had similar degrees of success, except Lily whose match had determinedly stayed just that, a match.

"Beginner's luck?" James asked as they headed to their next class, History of Magic.

"Not really." Sirius announced, "I just switched our matches when you weren't looking." He finished smiling cheekily.

"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed shocked. "How could you?!"

"Easy, I reached over and replaced James match with mine." Sirius said.

James laughed, apparently not upset that Sirius had jipped him on the assignment. "And I never even noticed."

"What a horrible thing to do." Lily scolded.

"Oh come on Lil', it's not like it was that bad or anything." Sirius said, eyeing her, "You won't tell McGonagall, will you?"

"I should." Lily threatened. "But I won't as long as you don't do it again."

"Or at least don't tell Lily about it." Jania piped up. Lily rolled her eyes.

The group found their way to History of Magic without too much trouble, only five minutes late this time. Once again they had to sit in the back of the classroom. The most exciting thing to happen in that class was Professor Binns entering the class through the chalk board. Lily would have thought that being taught by a ghost would be interesting, but alas it wasn't. From the moment he entered the class without so much as taking roll call or a head count he began to drone on an on about the Goblin Wars, in the most boring monotone. The class half heartedly took notes as Binns lulled them further and further into a stupor. Beside her, Lily could see Jania carefully folding a parchment aeroplane; on her other side Dawn and Marré were passing notes. Farther down past Jania, Remus was taking notes diligently, while James and Sirius were doing much the same thing as they had in Transfiguration. Lily scoffed silently as she returned her attention to Professor Binns once more.

She had just looked up from writing a point form note about Ulric the Oddball, when Jania's parchment aeroplane sailed right through Professor Binns head. At first he didn't appear to notice this, but after he completed the long run on sentence he had been in the middle of, he turned to Jania.

"Detention, Ms. Kerwick." He said in the same bored monotone. "Midnight, Friday. You will be polishing the trophies."

Jania shrugged as Lily glared disapprovingly at her. Soon after the bell rang and Professor Binns dismissed them. In the hallway, James and Sirius pounded Jania on the back, congratulating her on getting the first detention of the year. 'Only wish I had of gotten it.' Sirius said as the group went towards the Great Hall for lunch. Once they had sat down and filled their plates, Lily turned to Jania.

"And why exactly did you do that?" She inquired severely.

"I was curious." Jania answered, biting into her sandwich.

"About what?" Remus asked.

"Whether or not he'd notice." Jania replied.

"Man, that is so not fair." Sirius complained. "Beaten out of the first detention of the year by a girl."

"You're jealous too, I suppose." Lily said glaring disapprovingly at James.

"Of course." James answered cheekily.

"Fools, all of you." Lily said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "It's our first day and you are not making a good impression. We've been late for two classes. You got detention. And now I suppose you two idiots will try your damnedest to get detention as well. It's-"

"It's just detention, and I'm the one that got it. Don't see why you're so worked up about it. Yeesh, it's not the end of the world, you know." Jania said with her mouth full.

"Yes, but- Oh never mind." Lily said, picking up her schedule. "We have double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs after lunch and then we're free till dinner."

"Great we have to put up with that bunch of duffers." Dawn said disdainfully. "All they do is gossip."

"You'll fit right in." Jania said, "And don't sell the Hufflepuffs short. There's nothing wrong with them. They're loyal, they don't abandon friends. They're not afraid of hard work. They don't shy away from danger, and they're prudent enough not to go looking for it. They accept everyone, and don't show much prejudice. They learn well and help others without being condescending. They don't prize one thing over another, everyone is equal to them. They're very noble and gracious. I don't see why everyone gives them such a hard time."

"Because they're Hufflepuffs." Peter said.

Everyone gaped at Jania, who shrugged indifferently, and went back to eating her lunch. Lily stood up, briskly brushing the crumbs from her robes. "Come on let's go." She ordered them.

"But we still have ten minutes before we have to head to Herbology." Peter complained.

"Yes, but if we leave ten minutes early, we might just make it to class on time." Lily said, holding up her hand before Peter could say another word. "Bring a sandwich with you."

Peter grumbled as they headed out of the Great Hall. It was of course just their luck that Peeves was in the entrance hall, throwing ink balloons at students. Before any of them could duck one had hit Dawn right in the head, spattering ink over everyone. Lily dragged everyone to the nearest girl's toilet, intent on getting the ink out of Dawn's hair before it stained it black. After fifteen minutes, Lily, Marré and Dawn came out of the bathroom. Dawn's hair was thankfully still blond, for the most part, a few places were still a splotchy black though, but they were now late for Herbology.

Professor Sprout looked up at them as they burst through the door to Greenhouse One. "Peeves?" She asked taking in their ink splattered appearance. Lily nodded. "Take a seat at the table in the back; you'll have to pull up a couple chairs. We're short on tables."

The group crowded around a table as Professor Sprout outlined the year's curriculum, stated a few rules, and began to quiz them on various plants around the room and their properties. Seeing how much studying they had done before they arrived. By the end of the double period both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had been awarded a fifty points for answering her questions correctly.

"You eight stay back a minute." Professor Sprout called as the dismissal bell rang. The group trudged up to her desk, hoping they weren't in trouble. "Okay, where you sat today is where you'll be for the rest of the year. Try not to be late again. It disturbs the plants. Oh, and you all might want to wash up using this tonight." Professor Sprout handed them a bottle, "It's a solution to dissolve ink. I use it quite often myself when I work with some of the plants."

"Thank you, Professor." Lily said, before they left the greenhouse.

"So what do you want to do now?" Remus asked, "We have a couple hours before dinner."

"We should go back to the common room and do our homework." Lily said, leading them towards the common room.

"Nah, that's boring, let's explore instead." Sirius suggested. "We could always do our dumb homework after dinner."

"No," Lily said firmly, "If we do our homework now, we know we have enough time to get it done properly. Instead of handing in some rushed half-assed assignment."

"But come on, we don't have to hand in our homework till next week." James complained.

"James, our schoolwork should come before anything else." Lily stated, "You heard what McGonagall said."

"And do you always do what people say?"

"Yeesh, why don't we do our homework now and explore after dinner when everyone else is in the common rooms." Jania suggested peaceably.

"Sounds good to me." Remus said, "It's better to explore when no one else is around anyway."

"Jania, we aren't supposed to leave the common room after dinner." Lily pointed out.

"So?" James asked.

"We could get in trouble." Lily said sharply. "We aren't supposed to break the rules."

"We're only breaking the rules if we get caught." Sirius said with a winning grin.

"But-"

"Oh fine, stay if you want to." James said, waving his hand dismissively, "You won't be any fun anyway."

"Canis Major." Marré said to the Fat Lady.

They entered the common room and sat down at one of the tables. Lily and James still arguing.

"Do you think they'll be like this often?" Remus asked, as beside him Lily and James fell back on childish name calling.

Jania shrugged, "We all just met yesterday. Who knows?"

Towards seven they left the common room and headed back down to the Great Hall for dinner. As the others ate dinner, Lily and James continued to argue between bites. Finally toward the end of dinner, James threw his hands up exasperated. "It's not like you'll spontaneously combust if you break a rule." He hissed, then his eyes lit up deviously as he added, "Besides, exploring the castle tonight will help us find ways to make it to class on time tomorrow."

Lily ate silently as she considered this, finally she said. "Okay."

"Alright, now who else is coming?" James asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Not me." Peter announced. "I want to eat a full meal, plus I'm dead tired."

"I've got to get the rest of the ink out of my hair." Dawn said grimacing. "Marré's helping me."

"So just the five of us then." Sirius said.

The five of them left the Great Hall, following James. When he led them into the Library, Sirius spoke up. "What the heck we in here for? This isn't exploring."

"Chill, Sirius." James said, as they sat at a table in a far corner out of the librarian's sight. "We're just going to stay here, till it's after hours and everyone's abed."

Lily got up from the table and few minutes later returned laden with books. She passed them out, one to each of them. Sirius gave her a very dirty look. "What?" Lily snapped, "I doubt the librarian will let us stay in here for two or three hours, if we aren't doing anything. Studying gives us a legitimate reason, and it won't hurt us."

"That's what you think." Sirius muttered darkly.

"Don't forget to take notes." Lily said, passing out parchment and quills. Sirius groaned loudly, earning a kick in the shin from Jania.

"Just shut up, before she decides to test us on it or something." She hissed from across the table.

The group obediently took notes on the books Lily had shoved at them, while she queened over them, making sure they weren't slacking off. Sirius kept shooting her dirty looks to no avail. Finally though after a couple hours, James decided it was safe to start exploring. They left the library as inconspicuously as they could with Sirius nearly tripping over himself with excitement.

The first thing they did at Lily's insistence was find shortcuts to all their classes. As that took till nearly midnight, they decided to call it a day, and do some real exploring tomorrow.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

Lily was up before the other girls the next day and enjoyed a leisurely shower before waking the others three to get ready for their morning classes.

"I'll meet you three in the Great Hall for breakfast." Lily said cheerfully as she left the dorm room.

"Sah." Jania muttered turning over in her bed and going back to sleep.

"Jania, we're going now. You better get up." Marré said softly as she and Dawn left the dorm.

"Where is Jania?" Lily demanded as Dawn and Marré sat down to breakfast.

"She was still sleeping when we left." Dawn told her. "I don't think she's a morning person."

"That doesn't matter. If she doesn't get down here soon she'll miss breakfast." Lily said, buttering some toast.

Half an hour later they were in Charms and Jania had still not joined them. Lily sighed resigned as Peter sat down next to her. Fidgeting she checked her watch, five minutes till class started. Jania came tearing into the classroom and plunked down beside Remus two minutes before the bell went.

"Where were you?" Lily demanded.

"Not here." Jania yawned.

"I got you up at six. You had plenty of time." Lily hissed.

"Yeesh, Lils', I'm the one who's late not you." Jania said shrugging.

"Yes, but don't you want to make a good impression?" She asked.

"Not particularly. What I want is something to eat." Jania said as her stomach growled hungrily.

"Got that covered." Remus announced, producing some toast.

"I love you." Jania shouted, as she greedily grabbed the toast and started to eat it.

"Ms Kalten, please save further declarations of love, till after class." Professor Flitwick said as he entered the room and climbed onto his stack of books. The class tittered at this, causing Remus and Jania to blush.

"Lily, the world's not going to end if I don't show up on time or do my homework right away." Jania said after class.

"Yes, but just because you don't want to be here doesn't mean you shouldn't make an effort." Lily said, sniffing disapprovingly.

Jania opened her mouth to say something, but Remus stopped her. "Let it lie, she's just nervous."

"But that doesn't mean she should take it out on me. She could just as easily pick on Sirius or James." Jania hissed.

"Hey! I heard that!" Sirius said.

"Your point?" Jania grumbled as Lily led them their next class.

Lily found Defense Against the Dark Arts to be a very interesting class. She liked almost as much as she had like Charms, which was so far her best subject. As she looked about the class, she saw that it was also the only class in which everyone more or less paid attention. Even James and Sirius weren't goofing off.

Once they were set their homework and dismissed, they went down to the Great Hall for dinner. Jania was still rather put out with her nagging about making good impressions and showing up for class on time.

"I just don't see why you're making such a big deal about it." Jania stated. "It's just school."

"But that's just it. It's not just school. If we don't make a good impression, it could affect our grades. And if we don't get good grades we won't get good jobs." Lily pointed out.

"No, the only thing that affects our grades is our schoolwork." Jania said stubbornly.

"What planet have you been living on?!" Lily shouted, "Not everyone's fair and not everyone marks you just on what you write."

Jania looked dubious at this and Lily sighed exasperated. "Come on, we'd better get to Potions." She said. The others rolled their eyes, used to Lily's bossiness, after about a week of it.

They entered the Potions classroom and quickly found seats in the gloomy and cold dungeon. Lily looked about, furtively scrubbing the desk she and Jania were sitting at. It was covered with a dried green substance, which at one point was probably quite slimy.

"Great, we have it with the Slytherin's." James muttered darkly.

"It could prove to be fun." Sirius said, grinning maliciously as he looked over at the Slytherins.

Lily sighed at James and Sirius' conversation. She didn't think it would be remotely fun. The Slytherins for the most part had a mean look about them. Like they were all little kids who tore the wings off flies.

"This is one creepy classroom." Lily said,

"We are in a castle dungeon." Jania whispered back, as the Professor swept into the room. "I think it's actually rather homey, the manacles after all _were _removed from the walls."

Lily grinned at Jania as the Potions Master began to speak. Potions sounded like a very interesting class. And despite James' dire warnings that the Potions Professor would hate them because they were Gryffindors, he seemed quite fair. Awarding points equally to Slytherins and Gryffindors for correctly answering questions.

By the end of the class Lily was heartily tired of the malicious glares sent at the Gryffindors by the Slytherins, as they seemed like empty threats to her. You'd think it would kill them to get along with the other houses.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Oh yeah," Sirius exclaimed, "We got the rest of the day off. Now we can do some serious exploring."

"No, we can't." James said.

"What!? Have you gone all Lily on me?! Are you suggesting we do homework!?"

"Hell no! I'm just saying, if we go exploring we'll miss flying lessons."

"Flying lessons?" Jania asked, in a slightly breathless tone.

"Yeah, they teach us how to fly on brooms. It's loads of fun." James explained.

"Do we _have_ to learn to fly?" Lily asked.

"Yeah of course, who wouldn't want to learn to fly?" James said looking at Lily oddly, like she had been dropped on the head one to many times as an infant.

"I'm terrified of heights." Lily said defensively, "I definitely don't want to fly."

"Don't worry Lil', it won't be so bad once you get in the air, just don't look down." Remus said comfortingly.

They arrived in the courtyard where Madam Hooch was, looking very much like a raptor given human form. Lily was relieved that they only had flying lessons with their house. Less people would make fun of her for being a complete failure at flying.

"Good, we're all here." Madam Hooch announced after a few minutes, "Now stand beside a broom," She paused here for people to do as she instructed, "and say 'up'."

Lily felt quite odd ordering a broom 'up'. "Up." She said as forcefully as she could. Her broom just flopped over. Beside her Jania's broom had answered on first try. Dawn and Marré were having trouble with their brooms too, but managed to get them up after a few tries.

"Up." Lily demanded, quite put out with the broom. It came 'up' quite fast and she didn't manage to catch it before it hit her in the nose, hard.

"Good, now mount your broom like this," Madam Hooch instructed, "and push off with your feet. Level your broom off at about three feet."

The class did as instructed, Lily nervously pushed off with her feet. _Please don't let me crash, please don't let me crash._

"Lily, it works better with your eyes open." Jania said, grabbing Lily's ankle before she rose to high.

"Err…. Yeah, I suppose." Lily said opening her eyes, and glaring at James and Sirius who, across from her and Jania, were laughing at her.

Lily didn't know how she made it through the lesson. Her broom had tried to buck her off, take her flying with the birds, and plough her into the ground. All things considered, Lily decided she didn't like brooms and would much prefer to keep her feet on the ground where they belonged.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"You know," Jania said, "maybe learning magic won't be so bad."

Lily looked up from the transfiguration homework the two of them were doing. "What changed your mind?"

"Flying. I didn't know there was going to be flying. I thought it was all going to be boring books, magic spells, and potions." Jania explained, "But since there's flying…"

"You like flying?" Lily asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I love flying." Jania announced. "Ever since I was little. I was born on a plane. Mum went into labour early when they were flying to visit her parents."

"But flying is so dangerous."

"Just being alive is dangerous." Jania said, reverting to her sullen self, "But you still do it."

"Yeah, I suppose, but I don't like flying."

"Why not?"

"Besides being afraid of heights, I'm no good at it."

Jania looked at the clock, "Damn I have to go to detention. See you later."

Lily watched as Jania left the common room before returning to her transfiguration homework. Half an hour later James, Sirius, Remus and Peter came scrambling through the portrait.

"Hey Lily-bills," Sirius said cheerfully, as he plunked down across from her. "Why didn't you and Jania come exploring with us today?"

"It just might have had something to do with the fact that you couldn't stop making fun of me." Lily said scathingly.

"But come on Lils', it was funny, I've never seen someone have more trouble with a broom before. If Jania hadn't been there to grab you by the ankles, you would probably be halfway to the moon."

"It wasn't funny, Sirius. I was terrified."

"Your face was all scrunched up and you flew like you were drunk and the best part was-"

"SIRIUS!" Lily screeched, grabbing up her and Jania's homework and stalking up to her dorm.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

What seemed only a few minutes after she fell asleep, she was awoken by someone holding her nose closed.

"Jania!" She hissed, sitting up in her bed, "What are you doing?!"

"I have an idea. Get dressed."

Lily hurriedly got dressed while Jania rummaged in her trunk for something. Lily looked out the window; it was the darkest part of the night. And worse the sky was mostly clouded over.

"Jania, what are we doing up?" Lily whispered, so she wouldn't wake Dawn and Marré up.

"Not here." Jania said, standing up and closing her trunk quietly, "Follow me."

Lily followed Jania as she led her down the stairs, through the common room and out the portrait. "Jania, we could get in serious trouble if we're caught." Lily hissed.

"Then we'll have to make sure we aren't caught."

The two carefully wended their way down the stairs and out the front entrance. "Jania, what are we doing?"

"You're going to learn to fly."

"What!?"

"Well, I thought that since it's so dark you wouldn't be able to notice how far off the ground you were, so you couldn't be afraid of being high up, 'cause you wouldn't notice. And I want to fly again."

"Okay, I'm willing to try that, but just one problem," Lily said hesitantly, "How are we going to get the brooms out of the cupboard? We don't know any spells for that."

"This." Jania said, holding up a lock picking set.

"Why do you have that?"

"I wasn't a good kid at my boarding school. I got it from the school black market."

"That's bad." Lily admonished. "Do you have something against school?"

"I never said I was good. And I don't have anything against school, except I don't like it if there's no flying." Seeing Lily's disapproving look, Jania added, "I only used it for breaking into the room with the flight simulators that the older students got to use. And the kitchens."

Lily sighed and was about to say something before Jania interrupted. "You are way too serious for being eleven."

"And you aren't?" Lily asked. Jania grinned at her.

Lily watched the grounds for signs of movement while Jania unlocked the broom cupboard took out the two best school brooms and locked the broom cupboard. "So if someone checks they don't notice someone unlocked it." She explained when Lily asked.

"I can do this." Lily said as they mounted their brooms.

"Of course you can."

"On second thought I can't." Lily said panicked, as she shot up ten feet.

"Straighten out. Lean forward 'til your broom's level with the ground." Jania ordered.

Lily leaned forward too much and shot towards the ground. "Lean back, lean back!" Jania shouted. Lily immediately leaned as far back as she could and shot once more towards the sky. She closed her eyes tight as she rose higher and higher. "Lean forward slowly!" Jania called.

In her panic Lily once again leaned forward as much as she could and headed towards the ground. "Quit overcompensating! Lean back ten degrees and bring your hands closer to your knees. And do it slowly!"

Lily slowly leaned back a bit; she had no idea what ten degrees was, and slid her hands closer to her knees and _miraculously _her broom levelled off. "I did it!" She exclaimed.

"About time." Jania muttered as she brought her broom up beside Lily.

"How come you're so good? We both just got on brooms today."

"I dunno," Jania shrugged, "Maybe it's just 'cause I'm good at flying planes. A broom's not that different, well, it is but not really."

"You make no sense."

"I know."

"Well are we done? I can fly now."

"No, we're not done. Let's do a couple laps around this stadium thinger."

"I guess."

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Wake up you two! Or you'll miss breakfast!" Dawn yelled as her and Marré shook Lily and Jania awake.

"I'm awake, I'm up already." Lily said tiredly rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Jania, wake up!" Marré said, getting no response from Jania.

"Just push her off her bed." Lily suggested.

"What!?" Dawn exclaimed.

"It'll wake her up." Lily said, Dawn and Marré just looked at her. "Oh fine. I'll do it."

Lily got out of her comfy bed, pushed up the sleeves on her nightgown and pushed Jania, who was already at the edge of her bed, off it.

CRASH!

"Ugh… Is it time to get up already?" Jania asked rubbing her head.

"Yeah, we're almost late for breakfast. So get dressed." Dawn said cheerfully. "Chop, chop."

"Uh… Jania, your shirt's inside out and your socks don't match." Remus said as the girls sat down at breakfast. Jania shrugged as she added half a bowlful of sugar to her oatmeal.

"Eww… Jania that is so gross." Dawn screeched.

"Huh? What's gross?" Jania asked, now adding honey to the oatmeal.

"Putting all that sweet gunk into your oatmeal." Dawn said, shuddering as maple syrup was now added.

"No what's gross is plain oatmeal." Jania said, as she poured cold milk to nearly overflowing. Grinning at Dawn she stuck a spoon into her bowl and ate it with a relish.

"I want to try!" Sirius exclaimed, sticking his fork into the gooey mass of oatmeal. "Yummy." He declared.

"You two are outrageous." Remus said, shaking his head. "How can you stand that much sweet stuff?"

"Lack of taste buds?" Jania shrugged.

"We have that military training stuff in the afternoon." Lily said brightly, carefully not looking at Sirius and Jania. Jania, who was so sullen, had her moments of childishness.

"Yeah, Sebastian Kalten, an Auror is teaching us." James said.

"Sebastian Kalten?" Jania asked, hesitantly.

"Yeah, why?"

"Great. Just great. That's my uncle." Jania said surly.

"Why don't you sound excited about it then?" Lily asked.

"We don't speak of him." Jania said shortly.

"Why not? Because he's a wizard?" James asked.

"If that was the problem, I wouldn't be here." Jania pointed out, "No, it's because he... well my dad and him had a falling out, over what they wouldn't tell me. Had something to do with my mum though. But that never stopped them from shunting me off there when I wasn't at school. And well, he's… Don't worry you'll see."

They spent the morning doing their homework, and soon it was time to head to the Quidditch Pitch for defense class. Jania slowed as they reached the Quidditch Pitch.

"What do you think the chances he won't see me are?" Jania asked.

"It's Gryffindors and Ravenclaws." James said, "So he might not see you."

"Good, good everyone's here." A tall, fair haired man, with a good natured look about him said. "I'm Sebastian Kalten, but you can all just call me Uncle Sebby. Now on to roll call."

Lily looked at Jania, whose face was steadily gaining colour. She looked positively mortified.

"Kalten, Jania. Well, Johnny where are you?" He said looking about. Jania cringed, and then she squared her shoulders and stepped forward. "I'm here… Uncle Sebastian. And my name is Jania."

"You'll always be little Johnny-ah to me." Sebastian said cheerfully, ruffling her hair. "I remember when you were just a tyke, playing in the mud with your cousin, both of you naked as the day you were born, and covered head to toe in the blackest mud I've ever seen. You were always refusing to wear clothes. Always went starkers if you could." Lily glanced at Jania, she was a bright red, and her hand was twitching. "But enough of that. Since we're all here, we might as well get started. First things first, well…" He paused and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I guess we'll start with running laps. Off you go."

Jania took off like a shot out of hell, sprinting halfway across the pitch before the others were able to catch up.

"Not a word." Jania gritted as they caught up.

The good thing, about having 'Uncle Sebby' in charge of the fitness course was that in between exercises and drills they had plenty of time to catch their breath, as he regaled them with embarrassing stories from when Jania was little. He told them of how she jumped out of a tree on a board to try 'windsurfing', before he remembered they were supposed to be doing push-ups.

"Well, it's almost dinner. You're all dismissed. Oh, Johnny-ah stay behind a minute, want to talk to you." Sebastian said as the class left, calling 'See ya, Uncle Sebby' and 'Bye Uncle Sebby' as he beamed after them.

Lily was at the steps when Jania caught up. "What did your uncle want?"

"Tell me that I'm staying with him over summer break, but I have to stay at school for Christmas break, since my parents are going to be Uganda."

"But you said your parents didn't like your Uncle Sebby-astian."

"They don't, but I still have to visit him every so often for some reason. Beats me. Come on let's eat, then go exploring!"

"We still have a Potions essay to do!"

"It can wait."

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Well, well, this certainly isn't the way to make good first impressions." A soft voice hissed behind them. "My, my detention to the lot of you and ten points from Gryffindor."

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"POTTER, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Lily Evans shouted as they entered the common room.

"Do you think she's mad?" Sirius whispered to Jania.

"I think she's mad." Remus answered.

"Feh." Jania shrugged.

"IT WASN'T ALL MY FAULT!" James shouted just as loudly. "IT WAS SIRIUS' IDEA!"

"Hey!" Sirius said, holding his hands in front of him. "Leave me out of this!"

"Calm down Lily," Remus said trying to placate, "Professor Vendicta isn't one of our teachers at any rate."

"CALM DOWN! WE'VE GOT DETENTION! AND LOST POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR! I KNEW I SHOULD NEVER HAVE AGREED TO GO ANYWHERE WITH YOU!"

"What say we sneak off to bed?" Sirius suggested. He, Remus and Jania left to their dorms.

"NO ONE MADE YOU COME!" James shouted, then thought, _Oh, wait I did._

"PFFT! WHY I OUGHT TO-"

"BED! BOTH OF YOU NOW!" Burly Seventh Year Seamus O'Riley shouted from the foot of stairs. "OR BY THE FOUNDERS I'LL TURN YOU OVER MY KNEE AND SPANK SOME SENSE INTO YOU TWO! BED! NOW!"

Lily and James both scooted up to their respective dorms at top speed. The next morning Lily woke up with a knut magically stuck to the tip of her nose, and all hell broke loose.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**.-"‾‾': **END OF CHAPTER TWO **:****'‾‾"-.**

_Post Script: For those of you that don't know, birds of prey are also referred to as raptors, and that's what I mean when I say raptor, not the dinosaur. Oh, and did I mention I like to torture characters occasionally?_

**_Laura E: _**__

**_First Light of Eos: _**_Thanks, for pointing out the errors, I think I caught them all now. I like Jania too, especially picking on her. I'll try to update often._

**_jadore_****_: _**_Thanks for reviewing. I hope you update your story soon. I really like it. Marré is pronounced like the Marie, the French way. _


	3. First Year Fun

**.-"‾‾': **Like Morning Sunshine **:****'‾‾"-.**

By Fizban Hat

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters and locales. They belong to Ms. Rowling. I do own the plot, and any characters or things you don't recognise. _

**_Summary:_**_ AU, a few things were changed. What if Hogwarts had a military slant? Lily Evans' teachers want her and every other student to be able to protect themselves when they aren't at Hogwarts, especially in dark times like these. So they added a few military elements to_ _the curriculum. After all what good is a dead wizard?_

**.-"‾‾': **Chapter Three: First Year Fun **:'‾‾"-.**

Something was biting her nose. Something with very fishy breath was biting her nose. Something with fishy breath and furry grey paws was biting her nose. Something that belonged to Remus was biting her nose.

"Icarus, Jania's bed is over there." Lily muttered sleepily as she shooed the fluffy grey kitten away.

A few minutes later. "Quit 'iting my 'ose, Icky. I'm up." Jania grumbled.

Lily glanced at the glowing dial of her watch, five in the morning. She fell back to sleep to as she heard Jania getting up.

"Here." Jania grumbled. Shoving a paper bag filled with elastics, hairclips and bobby pins at James. "Why did I have to get them? If this is a prank it sucks."

"It does not suck!" James said hotly. "Trust me, by the end of the week, Lily will be begging to give me back my Quidditch posters. Tomorrow I want you to take all the ink. Oh, and give me your elastic."

"Why?" Jania growled.

"So Lily doesn't get suspicious." James answered cheerfully. Still growling Jania handed him the rubber band that held her hair in its braid.

"Why do I have to help you anyway?" Jania grumbled as she helped herself to some breakfast.

"Oh look, there's Uncle Sebby." Sirius chirped, waving at someone behind Jania's shoulder. Jania yelped and dove under the table.

"No one's there Jania." Lily said as sat down. Jania's head popped up, and looked about sceptically before she sat back down, kicking Sirius in the shin.

 "Where are all the elastics, Potter?" Lily demanded. James shrugged innocently. "I know you took them. But let me tell you, you aren't getting your stupid posters back until I get an apology. And if you don't give me back our hair things, I'll tell Professor McGonagall."

Beside her, Jania made a funny noise, half-yelp, half-yawn, as Remus kicked her in the shin. "Uh… Lily, if you tell McGonagall, that James took the hair whatchamacallits, you'll have to tell her why. Which means you'll have to admit you took his posters and started it. McGonagall's not going to look at that lightly." Jania paused here, yawning widely. "You'll probably land yourself a detention." She finished lightly.

Lily fumed. "Fine."

Lily was eating breakfast in stony silence as Dawn and Marré came down and joined them.

"Jania, what are you doing?" Dawn asked, as she sat down.

"Cutting my shoelace." Jania grunted as she sat back up, a piece of shoelace clutched in her hand. Slowing she tied the end of her braid up with it.

"Um… Where are our hair things?" Marré asked softly, while buttering a muffin.

"Potter." Lily said darkly.

"Yes, dearest?" James said sarcastically.

"Come on Jania, we're going to the library." Lily ordered. When Jania made no move to get up, Lily grabbed her braid and dragged her away from the table.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Miss Evans." The Potions Master said sharply, "I would have thought that you, Miss Star and Miss Mendambar, had more sense then to show up in my class with your hair down. This is Potions, not History of Magic. Loose hair could catch in something, or worse, it could end up in your potion and ruin an hour or more of hard work. Pull your hair back with something before you continue."

"But sir, we err… lost all our hair ties." Lily explained.

"Then borrow one, or use a piece of string." The Professor said sharply.

Jania sighed loudly, as she grabbed her knife and cut the ends off the rest of her shoelaces. She handed one to each of them, and they rather clumsily pulled their hair back. Lily scowled fiercely at James, to no avail.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Miss Evans," Professor McGonagall said severely. "Why are you not taking notes?"

"I don't have any ink, Ma'am." Lily replied politely.

"Borrow some from Mister Potter." Professor McGonagall ordered, before going back to writing her notes.

Lily groaned.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Miss Evans, why aren't you taking notes today?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply.

"I misplaced my quills." Lily said quietly.

"Mister Potter, will lend you one." McGonagall said sharply.

"Lily this would all end, if you'd just return my posters." James said, handing her an electric yellow quill. Beside Remus, Jania was writing with an oversized bright pink Ostrich feather. She looked quite put out.  Lily thanked the founders, that at least her borrowed quill wasn't a monstrosity like that.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

It was Friday, thank the Founders. After the quills, it had been their socks and shoes. They had been forced to go to class in their bare feet. Then today their parchment had mysteriously disappeared. Lily rubbed her forehead. She was going crazy. Why did he have to take the small things, that didn't really matter, unless they all went missing at the same time? Just then, Professor Flitwick's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Honestly Lily, it's not like you to be so forgetful. Have you been getting enough sleep?" He asked kindly.

_No,_ Lily thought, _I haven't._ She had stayed awake every night this week, trying to catch Potter taking their things. Lily was quite curious, as to how he had managed to get into the girls dorm, boys weren't able to get in, she knew from having read _Hogwarts, A History._ The only male that had been in their dorm was Icarus and Lily doubted he was the one taking their stuff.

"If you're not better prepared next week, I'm afraid I'll have to give you detention." Professor Flitwick told her.

Lily blanched. _Detention?_ She couldn't afford another detention. Her parents were so disappointed she had gotten one the first week of school. She couldn't bear to disappoint her parents, not when they were so proud she was a witch.

The bell rang, and the class filed out, thankful they hadn't been set any homework.

Her, Jania, Marré and Dawn were down by the lake, sitting in the shade of one the trees, enjoying their free afternoon. The weather was unseasonably warm, probably the last nice day before the fall rains hit.  

"Halloween Feast tonight." Jania announced from where she sprawled on the grass, playing catch with Marré's Rememberall.

"It is?" Lily asked, she forgotten all about it being Halloween with everything.

"Yeah, where have you been? Mars?"

"No. I've just been thinking about more important things than a stupid holiday." Lily snapped at Jania, who shrugged and continued to play catch with herself.

"Honestly, Lily, why can't you just give him the poster back?" Dawn asked.

"Because, he hasn't apologized for getting me detention!" Lily said angrily.

"You're about to get yourself one without his help." Jania said, _helpfully _pointing out that fact.

"Shut it, Jania!"

"I was just saying… Is a measly little apology worth getting yourself landed with another detention?"

"Jania." Lily growled warningly.

"It's just one little Quidditch poster… All you have to do is give it back and all your problems are solved…"

"JANIA!" The other three girls shouted.

"Bah." Jania grumbled and went back to catching the rememberall, ignoring them.

"She is right though Lily." Marré said softly.

"Of course I'm right. I'm Jania." Jania announced arrogantly. Before swearing to herself when Lily whacked her upside the head.  "Grah. Well remember when you're in detention that I was the one who kindly suggested a way to get out of it… but you didn't take it, so you're leaping what the cow sowed."

"Reaping what you sowed."  Dawn corrected absently. Jania shrugged.

After an eternity Lily finally replied. "Yes, I suppose you are right."

"So what you going to do, practise turning towards the other mountain peak?"

"It's turning the other cheek, Jania."  Marré said kindly.

Dinner that night was a fun affair.  Lily scowled grumpily all evening at James, who crowed in delight at everything, and was generally more cheerful than the occasion warranted.

"That's better." Jania said yawning. "Now I can get some sleep. No more getting up early to steal socks or parchments."

Lily blinked very slowly, and replayed what Jania had just said.  "_YOU were the one taking the stuff?!"_

"Yeah." Jania nodded, completely oblivious.

"Why hello Uncle Sebby." Lily said cheerfully to someone behind Jania, "What will be doing at class next time?"

"Oh, I thought we could play a muggle game of dodge ball. To… uh… hone your reflexes…" Uncle Sebby replied, he obviously didn't want to teach the kids anything military or life saving in their first year. "And how's my little Johnny-ah? Uh… Jania where did you go?"

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

Quidditch try-outs were today, Lily remembered as she woke up.  She had promised Jania she would go watch with her, since first years couldn't try out.  There were two positions open, Beater and Chaser.  Sitting in the stands with Remus, Sirius and Peter, Lily wondered where James and Jania were, obsessed as they were she had thought they would be here first.  Looking down at the pitch, she saw that though try-outs had officially started about five minutes ago, only four people had shown up.  Two of them looked suspiciously like James and Jania. 

"Look, there they are!" Sirius said, pointing to the two on the pitch. "I hope they make the team."

"They won't Sirius, first years aren't allowed their own brooms because they aren't allowed on the team.  Letting them on the team would only cause the other houses to complain, and first years to complain about the broom rule."  Remus said calmly.

"So?" Peter asked, "If they're good, they should be on the team."

"Hear, hear!" Sirius shouted, before turning to Remus. "You do want Gryffindor to win don't you?"

"Yes, of course I do but…"

"Then you want them on the team." Sirius said with finality.

Down on the Quidditch pitch, Lily watched as James and Jania, mounted on the school's 'inferior' brooms took the sky with the other two.  It was clear, even to Lily, with her limited knowledge of brooms that the two, though no doubt mounted on the best school brooms, were outstripped by the class and power of the other brooms.  The four of them trying out, were set against four of the regular team, as two beaters and two chasers.  Right now, according to Sirius, James and Jania were beaters. 

As she saw the two of them fly around the pitch whacking the, what had Sirius called them, Bludgers, at the other team.  Although neither had experience, it was obvious they had some talent; they flew better than the two older kids trying out.  And actually managed to stop one of the chasers from scoring with a bludger.

After half an hour, the team captain William Wood, whistled for them to change positions.  Jania and James were now chasers.  They faired better than the other pair at chasers, and would probably have scored a couple goals if their brooms hadn't been outstripped.  Nearing the end of the try-out Lily could see it was beginning to get to them.  When they finally landed on the pitch, the four in the stands rushed down to them.

"Well?" Jania demanded of Captain Wood.

"You two have talent, and with practise would make excellent beaters or chasers, but the rules are the rules. No first years."

"So?" James asked pugnaciously.

"I can't put first years on the team. You don't have brooms, you're not allowed to have brooms, and though McGonagall is sweet on Quidditch I know she won't go for having you two on the team.  Maybe she would have, if you knew how to behave, but… The best I can do is argue to put you on as reserves, playing if someone is out with their broom, mind you."  Wood said, dismissing them, muttering silently to himself about why Quidditch might not be popular with the Gryffindors right now, most likely because of Slytherin and Ravenclaw winning the cup for the past ten years.  It wasn't his fault no one was interested in Quidditch and those that were, were abysmal despite how hard he pushed them and trained them.

"I suppose that's better than nothing." James said as they walked back to the castle.

"Yeah, I suppose."  Jania agreed, "We'll just have to practise every night, you, me and Sirius.  The two chasers and one beater, and seeker will be open next year.  I think I want to go for Chaser, trickier flying involved."

"I want to be a beater," Sirius announced, "then I can whack the bludger at the Slytherins, and whoever else on the opposing team I don't like."

"That leaves me as the other chaser." James said, "Suits me, like Jania said trickier flying."

"Aren't you three overlooking a minor fact?" Remus asked, he was met with three blank stares. "You might not make the team."

"Trust me, we'll make the team." James said determined.  Lily didn't bother to try and argue with them, it was no use at any rate.

"If we get our homework done before dinner, we could sneak out and practise after dinner." Lily sighed.

"Are you suggesting we break the rules?" James asked mockingly aghast.

"Yes, but only this once."

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

By the time Christmas holidays had rolled around, Lily had quite forgiven Jania, and no longer set her up to be caught by Uncle Sebby, amusing though it was.  The holidays officially started day after tomorrow, and today they had their last class.  It was defence class with Uncle Sebby, who had decided to have all the first years have a lesson together, to mark the end of the term or something.

Trudging out to the Quidditch pitch with Jania, how along with James and Sirius had been true to their word and snuck out every night to practise.  Wood had managed to get McGonagall to let him mark them as reserves reluctantly, she had only relented because Wood said they wouldn't need to be allowed brooms and would just play on the regular player's broom.  So Wood made them go to practise with the other players, and made them stay late so he could give them some one on one training.  Everything they learned they taught to Sirius, Remus, or Lily, who was forced to go with the three when Remus was sick or one of his family was which happened at regular intervals.

They arrived at the pitch to see Uncle Sebby already there, wearing a bright yellow robe, electric green cloak, and fluorescent pink earmuffs.  Beside her Jania cursed under her breath.

"Well today class, I decided to give you a real military lesson." He said cheerily once everyone had arrived and roll call had been taken.  The entire first year of students leaned forward with bated breath, "We're going to have a snowball fight."

The other kids groaned, they had thought it would be something interesting, but Jania grinned wickedly and whispered, "When he says snowball fight, he means snow ball war.  This will be fun."

"Now now, don't look so glum chums, this will be loads of fun and a huge lesson in tactics and teamwork."  Uncle Sebby said, tossing up and down a snowball.  "As you can see, the pitch has been divided into two halves." Indeed it had, in the middle of the field was a large red line that had been magicked into the snow. "That divides each side's territory.  Two houses will be on this side, two on the other. You'll notice that scattered across the field are piles of snowballs, each pile is magicked to refill itself, and the snowballs themselves are magicked.  If you are hit more than three times with a snowball, you will be magicked into a sleep and will only wake at the end of the game, when one side is defeated or concedes to the other. Now don't worry about catching a cold, it's also magicked to release a spell to keep you warm until you wake. While building your fortifications, you will be allowed to use what magic you know and the tools I have set aside for each team, but only snow can be used as a defence and weapon. No using the shovels to built catapults or the like.  Now, to give you an incentive to win, the team members of victorious team shall each receive a five galleon gift certificate to Honeydukes."  The First Years cheered, "You can redeem it by Owl Post of course, since first years can't go to Hogsmeade, but moving along. The teams will be Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor and Slytherin." Sebby clapped his hands together and walked delightedly to the stands. "Oh and one more thing, you have exactly one hour to build your forts."

"Slytherins!" Sirius shouted, "Is you uncle insane!?"

"Quite possibly." Jania said calmly.

"Well, Sirius can you at least try to get along with them?" Lily asked, but before she had even finished speaking Sirius had already leapt at Severus and was currently trying to throttle him. Remus and James unsuccessfully trying to pull him off. Lily turned towards Jania's uncle and saw that he wasn't about to do anything.  She turned around just in time to see Jania's boot collide with Sirius' face. _What in the world?_

Sirius leapt up and jumped at Jania, who dodged out of his way, stooping to sweep him off his feet. Sirius landed in the snow, and got up hastily to resume his attack.  James and Remus grabbed him.

"Chill Sirius. And don't even try it Snape, or I'll have Lily charm your ears off." Jania said coolly.

"Okay Jania, enough with the act." James said, still holding the struggling Sirius. "What is it?"

"Out of everyone here, I am the only one with training- And Sirius if you behave yourself I'll give you my gift certificate." Jania snapped.

"What makes you so sure we will win?" Severus asked nastily.

Jania gave him a flat look. "Lily tell me what the other team is doing while I size up our playing field."

Lily turned around and looked at the other side of the field. "Well, they've already started building their forts.  They don't look to sturdy right now though, and they're all working together."

"How many snowball piles are they protecting?" Jania asked.

"All of them."

"Good. That's all I needed to know, Lily." Jania said, "Now we're going to defend this two piles here, they're the biggest and at a central location where we can hit most of the targets.  I want the forts to be three feet high, big enough to protect up but small enough to throw over.  Slytherins you build the one of the right, us Gryffindors will build this one here. Once we're done the main forts, we'll build to foot high embankments in front of the two piles closest to the enemy line on both the right and left. Undertsand?"

"Why should we work with you?" Narcissa snapped. "We can win this thing on our own."

"Narcissa is right of course, we could win this on our own. We are Slytherins, after all. Not mudbloods and blood traitors." Bellatrix hissed.

Lily ignored them, she had no clue what a mudblood or a blood traitor was, the others appeared offended, very offended, but before they could do anything Lily spoke, turning to Severus, she addressed him ignoring the others. "Severus, I know you will make the Slytherins help us. Because if you don't we'll all fail this assignment, and though us Gryffindors failing won't bother you, if you yourself fail, it will pull you down from first in the grades race and I will take your place. You don't want that do you?"

Snape glared at her for a long moment. "Fine. We'll work with you this once."

By the end of the hour, Jania's defences had built to her specifications, and they were ready for the attack.  James complained loudly that the Slytherins would throw snowballs at them knocking them out, but Lily was certain they wouldn't, Snape revelled in being cleverer than the rest of the year and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his position, and knocking out a team mate, even accidentally, lost the team a lot of points, and gave you the lowest mark possible.

Jania using a spell that allowed the whole team to hear her ordered them not to fire yet.  The boys chaffed at being bossed about a girl, even if it was Jania, but Lily didn't mind. Jania knew what she was doing, or at least seemed too, and she knew that if the roles were reversed and Lily knew how to do something that Jania didn't, Jania would follow her lead without hesitation.

"Let them sweat. Let them make the first move, let them condemn themselves." She said calmly, watching the other side for movement.

It came suddenly, or so it seemed to Lily, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stood up and with a yell started volleying snowballs at them.

"Don't return fire yet." Jania said, after a few minutes the snowballs stopped flying, the other team had run out.  "Return fire."

The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were caught off guard, they had believed that they had managed to faint everyone, they managed to take down almost half of them. Once they ran out of snowballs they retreated behind their forts.

"What now, mighty commander?" Sirius asked, grinning.

"We wait for our snowballs to refill then attack again; unfortunately our trick won't work this time, so we'll be taking fire. Try to get as many as you can. Have we lost anyone?"

"Narcissa." Snape hissed using the same spell Jania had to be heard.

"Tough luck. Be careful people."

By the time Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had conceded their side had lost Narcissa, Marré and Peter.  After collecting gift certificates and congratulations from Uncle Sebby, they headed back into the castle soaked to the bone.

"Why'd your uncle pair us with the Slytherins? He knows about the rivalry between us." James asked.

"So we would understand that sometimes to accomplish a mission it means having to work with people we don't like."  Lily replied before Jania even opened her mouth.

Jania shrugged. "Better than what I was going to say."

"What were you going to say?" Remus asked.

"He's sadistic and thought depriving Sirius of chocolate would be amusing."

"I think Lily hit on the point." Remus said.

"Speaking of chocolate, had over your certificate." Sirius demanded.

Jania gave him the certificate without protest.  "I hate chocolate."

"Jania, Honeydukes doesn't just sell chocolate." James said, and then went on to describe the wondrous treats the store offered, Jania grew more and more angry by the second. Sirius prudently took off running, Jania close behind trying to reclaim her certificate.

"Why did you three stay here during Christmas Holidays?" Lily asked.

"To keep Sirius company." James said.

"I didn't want to go home." Sirius said through a mouthful of food, with a meaningful glance towards the Slytherin table, across the room. Severus was the only one sitting there but Lily understood what he meant.

"Oh." Was all she said, "I stayed because Petunia didn't want me and my 'strangeness' at home when she was having her boyfriend 'round for the first time."

"What a bint." Jania snorted.

"I don't mind." Lily insisted.

"Then I'll mind for you."

"JANIA!" Lily screamed, "WAKE UP! IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

"Grah."

Lily promptly smashed Jania upside the head with a pillow, the two were happily having a pillow fight when an annoyed voice was heard.

"Get down here with your presents, so we can open them all together." Sirius shouted up at them.

Lily and Jania obediently grabbed their respective pile of presents and headed downstairs in their pyjamas.

"Holy Hannah Hufflepuff, Kalten!" Exclaimed Seamus O'Riley, "Where'd you get that monstrosity!"

Jania looked down at her pyjamas, they were bright pink with orange, so maybe they clashed a little, but they were pyjamas, no one cared what you slept in.

"Uncle Sebby?" Remus asked sympathetically. Jania nodded sullenly.

Lily looked down at her presents and started to open them.  Petunia had sent her a book on etiquette, with paragraphs highlighted, and chapters marked important, along with a note that read.

_So you won't ruin my social life with your 'unnatural tendencies'._

_                                                                                                Petunia_

Lily set it aside and opened Sirius' gift and was surprised that it was a can of nuts, she opened it for a few to snack on before breakfast and was rewarded with spring snakes jumping out at her.  Sirius howled with laughter.

"Muggles.  Simple but sweet." He gasped. Lily just shook her head.

She got '_A Girl's Book of Charms' _from Remus, chocolate frogs from Peter, an unbreakable quill from James, a jar of colour changing ink from Dawn, a beautifully framed picture of the group from Marré and a… uh… just what the heck was it from Jania.

"What is this?" Both of the girls asked at the same time.

"That's a-"

"It's a-"

"You go first."

"It's a charm bracelet. I've got one too." Lily said, showing Jania the bracelet on her wrist. "The little wizard hat represents our first year here."

"Neato. How do I work it?" Jania asked, trying to figure out to work the little clasp at the end.  Remus rolled his eyes at her and put it on Jania's arm.  Who looked offended at the thought that a boy knew how to work a clasp better than her.

"So what is this, Jania?" Lily said, lifting up the contraption.

"Oh, that. It's a mini handheld crossbow.  You work it like this." Jania said grabbing the thing and showing Lily how to work it. Going as far as to shoot Patrick's hat off his head.

"KALTEN!" He roared standing up.  Jania prudently ran for the exit. The rest laughed.

"Well this may be useful sometime." Lily mused putting it down and opening the present from her parents.  They had gotten her an anthology of short stories, which was quite a heavy tome.  Probably due to her complaining about lack of fun reading material.

"Should we go to breakfast now?" James asked.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

Spring break wasn't nearly so much as Christmas had been.  Lily groaned as she sat at one of the tables late at night, drawing up revision notes.  _If only she'd paid more attention is history._

"Jania, what do you know about the important battles of the first goblin uprising?" Lily asked, looking at Jania across the table.  Who was believe it or not more exhausted than she looked, and she looked half dead, Jania was practising nightly Quidditch for next year as well as studying with Lily.

"Loads, want my notes?" Jania asked, as she looked up from copying the potions revision Lily had already worked out.

"Yeah." Lily nodded.  Taking the proffered notes and leafing through them, Lily saw that they contained more than she had hoped for.  The dates of the battles, in order of what Jania thought was important, then detailed descriptions of the actual battles, down to the techniques and tactics used, then mini-biographies of the key players.  Lily blinked, the only other class Jania had notes like this in was DADA. Most of the time her notes consisted of Remus' handwriting, and her own doodles, which were of the various ways that teacher could get killed by any number of monsters.

Focusing back on the task at hand. Lily bent her head and began to write some more point form notes.  After a couple more hours Lily's hand was cramped up and she decided to call it a night. Seeing as Jania was already asleep across the table from her, Lily decided to close her eyes for a few moments before waking up the sleeping stone.

"Gah! We're late for class!" Lily shouted, waking up to find the sun already high in the sky.  Jania mumbled something in response and fell off her chair. 

"I was doing so good too. Only bad day in the whole year! What am I going to do!? Jania?! Jania?!" Lily said, knocking a book accidentally into Jania's head.  She cracked an eye open.

"Lily, chill out, it's Sunday.  Classes start tomorrow."  Then promptly went back to sleep.

"Oh right."  Lily said surprised, then sat down and started to write out her notes again.  Trying very hard to ignore how everyone in the common room was staring at her.  Today was not a good day.

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

"Lily, no more studying.  Your brain will fall out."  Jania said, as she struggled to stay awake.

Lily hardly heard her; she was cramming in some last minute studying, exams started in the morning.  She had to be prepared; she couldn't disappoint her parents by bringing home mediocre grades.  Lily finally looked up from her feverish studying when she heard an unhealthy clunk.  It was just Jania falling out of her chair and smashing her head on the fireplace. _How her friend could sleep through the stress of exams she didn't know._

"Lily!  You missed the Potions exam!" Sirius cheerfully sang out, as he came down the stairs that morning.

"NO!  I couldn't have.  Do you think I can retake it!  It wasn't my fault!" Lily was shoving stuff into her bag rapidly as she rambled on about needing to be able to retake the test.  James decided to take pity on her.

"Lily, cool it, we got an hour before the exam.  Sirius was messing with you."  James said before laughing at the look on Lily's face.

Lily did the only thing she could think of.  She threw a textbook at him.  It hit Seamus O'Riley, who was knocked out cold.  "Do you think we should wake him?" Remus asked, having joined them just in time to see the book go flying.

"No, let's just run."  Sirius suggested. "Well what are we waiting for?"

"I gotta wake Jania up."  Lily said, and continued to shove things into her bag absently.  Remus bent down and pinched Jania's ear.

"Yeow!  What was that for!?" Jania demanded, waking up immediately for a change.

"We're going to run away from Seamus.  Wanna come?"  Sirius asked grinning insanely.

"Sure. Race you!"  Jania replied and took off screaming like a banshee followed closely by Sirius who screamed even louder.

"Are any of my friends sane?"  Remus mused quietly as he followed after them.

"Oh yeah! Who's wicked spiffing?" Sirius exclaimed as they sat at the Gryffindor table for the Leaving Feast.

"The Headmaster."  Jania replied blandly.

"No me, silly."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Why 'cause so far out of all of us, I've raked in the most detention.  That puts me in first."  Sirius crowed.

"Who cares?"  Jania remarked, and was promptly kicked in the shin.

"Whatcha all doing this summer?"  Dawn asked, popping her bubblegum.

"I'll be practising Quidditch." James exclaimed, and launched into a description of the broom he was going to get.

"I'll be avoiding my family."  Sirius said cheerfully.  Lily blinked, how could he be cheerful about something like that?

"I'll be being forced to pretend I'm not a witch."  Lily said lightly.

"I'm going to France for the summer, to stay with my Aunt." Marré said quietly.

"I'm going to America for a couple weeks.  That's why I'm practising chewing gum.  I heard it's cool over there."  Dawn said, snapping her gum again.

"What about you Jania?  Remus?" Lily prompted.

"I'll just be staying around the house.  Maybe do some fishing." Remus answered.

"I'll be hiding under a rock, wishing I was invisible."  Jania announced, glancing sourly at her Uncle.

"Don't worry Jania; I'll see if you can come visit for a while."  Lily said laughing.  Jania perked up.

"You do that."

**.-"‾‾"-. ':' .-"‾‾"-.**

**.-"‾‾': **END OF CHAPTER THREE **:****'‾‾"-.**

_Post Script: Sorry about the wait in between, I was planning what would happen. And taking a break from writing/reading fanfiction.  I needed to concentrate on some other stuff for a bit.  I will now be going and catching up the stories I read and such. I'll try to warn you next time. ; I'm going to do all of Second, Third in the next couple chapters.  Tell me if you think I'm moving to fast.  Oh, and for those of you_

**_RECOMMENDATION: _**_Fairy Gifts from the Sea by Quis – Awesome short.  A rare Colin/Ginny, something I'd like to see more of. XD_

_Laura E: Hehehehe! You're not bad yourself.  _

_pinkchicklet__: Thanks for the review._

_Wedgie__Antilles__:  I love your name! XD huge Star Wars fan Thanks for the review! _

_First Light of Eos:  I hate the 'Hufflepuffs are useless' crap.  I liked them from the very beginning when I heard about their house from the sorting hat.  I'm not quite sure how I want Jania pronounced, but that's just her uncle's way of doing it. And I didn't have James and Sirius fighting because they liked but just because they liked to argue…  I do that with my friends all the time, even on topics that hold no interest, so I thought Jamesa and Sirius might do the same thing. _


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